INSIDE THIS ISSUE Classifieds............................................................ A4 Community Calendar ..................................B11-15 Covington Art Fair ............................................ A15 Discover Roanoke...........................................B2-3 Healthy Times ..............................................A10-11 Kids Summer Fun ..............................................B7 Outdoor Living .................................................... A7
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June 6, 2014
Local rivals share focus on values By Garth Snow gsnow@kpcmedia.com
Relay for Life June 21; Strides finds new home By Garth Snow
Ryan Townsend and Karen Martin-Coleman share a vision for semi-pro football in Fort Wayne. Both coaches want the players to excel on the field, gain exposure for their next opportunity, and act as role models and mentors in the community. Both want to bring a Cross Roads Football League championship to town. That’s where the agreement ends. Martin-Coleman owns the Indiana Cardinals. That team survived the Midwest Football League but sat out the 2013 season. Townsend coaches and owns the Allen County Lions, which arose last year during the Cardinals’ absence. The Cardinals are back. The Lions are standing their ground. Both teams have their sights on the league title. “I’m not sure people realize what the Martins
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PHOTO BY GARTH SNOW
Ryan Townsend III eyes a receiver during quarterback drills as the Allen County Lions practice at Tillman Park.
“This is real-life, real-deal football. These guys go in, they work hard, they play hard.” Ryan Townsend, Allen County Lions coach and I are doing for this town,” Townsend said. “This is the first time we’ve had two semi-pro football teams in Fort
Wayne in the same league.” The title chase will be a good show, said Townsend, who played with many of today’s
Arcola event to feature antique tractors parade By Garth Snow gsnow@kpcmedia.com
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Crews from the Mizpah Shrine Antique Power Club line up at the Arcola National Truck & Tractor Pull. This year’s pull features an antique tractor parade Friday evening.
she lived on the farm out there all her life, almost,” Brandon said. “Cliff” Brandom died in 1983. Jessie I. Brandom died in 2012. Brandon’s service helped to earn him the selection as Arcola Volunteer Fire Depart-
ment Citizen of the Year in 2009, the same year that he and his wife, Jan, bought an ad in the tractor pull program, listing all 31 original members of the fire department. “I believe firmly in giving back,” Brandon See ARCOLA, Page A5
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The clay track of the Arcola National Truck & Tractor Pull has special meaning to John Brandon. The Aboite Township man and his Mizpah Shrine Antique Power Club colleagues pull the competing tractors back to the starting line after each pull. Brandon also mows the grass on the pull park, which is owned by Lake Township and which each June is host to the noisy fundraiser for the Arcola Fire Department. “My dad was the first fire chief out there,” Brandon said. That was 1954, when John C. “Cliff” Brandom Sr. headed the department and the first Arcola pull was part of the now-vanished Arcola Days celebration. “My mother just passed away a few years ago, and
Cardinals in years past. Townsend played for South Side High School, then played 15 years in semi-pro, first with the Fort Wayne Flyers and closing with five years with the Cardinals.
Walkers still have time to register for the Relay for Life for Eastern Allen County. That event will be held from 9 a.m. Saturday, June 21, to 9 a.m. Sunday, June 22, at New Haven High School, 1300 Green Road in New Haven. Visit relayforlife. org/easternallencountyin to register or to donate. A running tally showed 32 teams and 204 participants had raised $17,808.08 as of May 28. “Our goal is to raise $80,000 and to recognize 80 survivors in the community,” said Melissa Stevens, the American Cancer Society staff member who works with the Eastern Allen County event. Four Relays were held in Allen County last year. Those events were combined into two Relays this year. Relay for Life for West Allen County
was held May 17-18 at Summit Middle School in Aboite Township. “It’s projected to hit the goal of $55,000, which is awesome,” Stevens said. “We saw 19 teams come out to the track that day, and it was brutally cold. It was a great turnout despite the weather.” Amy Saxton is the volunteer event chair for the Relay for Life for Eastern Allen County. “We have 31 teams and each team typically has from 12 to 20 on their team, and their friends and family are invited,” Saxton said, “so we probably will have from three- to five-hundred people there.” “We will have live entertainment, music, activities for adults and children, including cornhole, a dance competition, a karaoke competition, a survivor dinner, and a silent auction,” she said. “We
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